The Impact of Arkansas’s Abortion Ban on High-Risk Pregnancies
The room at the end of a long hall in our high-risk pregnancy clinic is often bathed in soft sunlight. Inside, there are comfy chairs, a noticeable lack of technology, beautiful pictures of babies donated by their parents, and boxes upon boxes of Kleenex. We call it the “quiet room,” but often, the heartbroken cries of families can be heard emanating from it. It is a room where the most devastating news about a loved pregnancy is shared with Arkansas families. I am often part of those conversations due to the nature of my job as a genetic counselor.
Approximately 3% of babies in Arkansas have birth defects and/or genetic diseases, many of which can be diagnosed prenatally. Some of those conditions are very manageable and treatable. However, some are not. They will result in prolonged suffering and even death, regardless of the timing of delivery. You likely know someone who has received a diagnosis such as this. Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the number of families getting this type of bad news about their pregnancies has not changed. Now, however, these families cannot receive the same level of care from their trusted providers in Arkansas.
When a life-limiting prenatal diagnosis is confirmed by our experienced high-risk team, it is common for the family to ask if they can deliver the pregnancy now, rather than wait another 4-5 months for term. Most have no inkling that this change in the law applies to pregnancies with these medical diagnoses; genuine shock registers on their faces when we tell them that Arkansas no longer allows that option.
Common refrains we hear:
“How does the state have a say in our medical decisions, when we are facing this unimaginable pain?”
“What do you mean that Dr. X, who has taken such good care of me in my last three pregnancies, cannot provide me care if we choose to deliver now?”
“If I do not terminate this pregnancy and deliver now, doesn’t that just prolong the suffering of all of us, including my unborn son?”
We do provide referrals to other specialists across the country, typically at other high-risk pregnancy institutions for those who wish to deliver early. But that comes with huge financial costs, additional emotional pain, and even maternal health risks. I want to be able to offer these families the ability to stay in state, surrounded by their family/support team, their own trusted healthcare providers, and their own religious or spiritual clergy. Let us help them arrange for funerals and memorials here, get pictures with their baby, and hold their baby for as long as they want to. Working in this field for such a long time, I have repeatedly seen that these things do help make an unimaginably devastating time, just a bit more bearable.
The emotional toll of not being able to care for these families in all the ways I used to, wears my heart very thin these days. Regardless, I trust these families can make informed, compassionate, and thoughtful decisions about their pregnancies. It is that trust and experience that gives me the courage to knock on the door of the “quiet room” again and again, entering to provide help.
That’s why I support the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, which will give these families some control back amid despair and chaos. I hope Arkansas will join me in getting the amendment on the ballot and passing it in November, because these families deserve options.
Shannon Barringer
Genetic Counselor
